Food safety is an important part of public health linking health to agriculture and other food production sectors. For over a century, developments in food production and new control philosophies have contributed to food safety systems in most developed countries perceived by many to be efficient in the prevention of foodborne disease. Nevertheless, a number of problems still remain dominant, o...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiology of foodborne disease outbreaks in schools and to identify where preventive measures could be targeted. METHODS Reports by state and local health departments of foodborne disease outbreaks occurring in primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities from January 1, 1973, through December 31, 1997, were reviewed. D...

As the title suggests, this book covers relevant topics on foodborne diseases. Most chapters are descriptive, updated, and, given likely pagelength limitations, concise. Of 21 chapters, 6 cover selected foodborne bacterial pathogens: Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Clostridium botulinum and C. perfringens, Yersinia enterocolitica and Y. pseudotuberculosis, pathogenic Vibrio spp., and ...

CDC collects data on foodborne and waterborne disease outbreaks reported by all U.S. states and territories through the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System (FDOSS) (http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/fdoss/surveillance/index.html) and the Waterborne Disease and Outbreak Surveillance System (WBDOSS) http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/surveillance), respectively. These two systems are the prim...

Foodborne disease is a common, but preventable, burden of illness worldwide. Almost one-half of every dollar spent on food in the United States is spent on food from restaurants. A growing body of data from foodborne disease outbreaks and studies of sporadic (non-outbreak-associated) gastrointestinal disease of various etiologies suggest that eating food prepared in restaurants is an important ...

International foodborne norovirus outbreaks can be difficult to recognize when using standard outbreak investigation methods. In a novel approach, we provide step-wise selection criteria to identify clusters of outbreaks that may involve an internationally distributed common foodborne source. After computerized linking of epidemiologic data to aligned sequences, we retrospectively identified 10...

Food constitutes one of the most important routes of transmission of infectious diseases. Microbial safety and quality of food is a global health concern owing to the emergence and reemergence of foodborne pathogens worldwide recently. Microbial pathogens are disease causing bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoans [1,2]. Food-harboring microbial pathogens and microbial toxins can lead to foodbo...

Consumption of food contaminated with microbial pathogens (bacteria, fungi, parasites, viruses, and their toxins) causes an estimated 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths each year in the United States. People who face relatively higher risks from foodborne illness and associated complications, such as kidney failure, include the very young, the very old, and the imm...

For many years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local health departments have investigated and controlled outbreaks of foodborne diseases and conducted limited passive surveillance for specific foodborne pathogens. However, recent changes in the food supply and in the consuming public have changed the type and range of infections caused by food and have made t...

The public health challenges of foodborne diseases are changing as a result of newly identified pathogens and vehicles of transmission , changes in food production and distribution, and an apparent decline in food safety awareness. Response to these new challenges requires new surveillance strategies to monitor the incidence of human illness and provide data for developing effective prevention ...